APPENDIX XXII.— NOTES FROM MINNESOTA, [233] 



at roots of stumps, by the sides of buildiogs, &c., and remain quiet. When larger 

 tbey climb upon fences, buildings, trunks of trees, &c. Tbe full-grown 'hoppers also 

 climb the stalks of grain,, small bushes, fences, buildings, &c., during night. Sometimes 

 they eat during night, atothertimestbey remain qniet. I have known them to eat the 

 •weatherboards in my house in one niglit so that it looked like newly planed lumber. 

 * * * Young 'hoppers never march during night, but I am of the opinion that the 

 old ones fly all night some nights.— [S. W. Maxson, August 1, 1877. 



Burnkamvllle, Todd County. — Among -wild birds useful in destroying the young and 

 fledged insects is, first, tbe prairie cliicken or grouse, the crow robin. Of the domes- 

 tic fowls, ducks and hens are the most effective. I had 150 young and old turkeys, 

 ducks, and hens ; constructed light coops that could be moved and kept the fowls out 

 night and day ; were only supplied -with vs^ater. Twenty chickens or ducklings when 

 two weeks old at the time the 'hoppers begin to hatch, will clear out one acre however 

 thick the eggs were deposited. Eggs were deposited on about 20 acres of my farm 

 and 'hoppers hatched accordingly. With tar and fowls I save almost the entire crop, 

 but the latter were my chief reliance. Kept them in the grain till the 'hoppers left — 

 about the fifth of July. I am confident that a twenty or thirty acre field can be saved by 

 a farmer if he provides for poultry in season. The young should be about two weeks 

 old when the first 'hopper eggs hatch. The ground must be plowed in the Fall or 

 Spring so they will hatch gradually.— [Albert Ehoda, August 24, 1877. 



Xeiv Auburn, Sibley County. — Locusts flying 22d June, and almost daily since from 9 

 a.m. to 4 p.m., mainly from tbe southeast, but sometimes from north and northwest 

 from from 5 to 40 miles per hour, averaging, probably 15 miles. Temperature 70° to 

 90° ; weather clear, sometimes scattering clouds. I can scarcely give an idea of the 

 density ; apparently like a heavy snow-storm; height from 100 feet to as far up as the 

 eye can reach ; to protect the eyes and look toward the sun, seemingly one mile, at 

 least as high as a bright object of that size can be seen with the naked eye, and, prob- 

 ably, much higher. — [S. S. Clevenger, July 8, 1877. 



Becker, Sherburne County. — Were visited in 1856. The 'hoppers did not act (in 1876) 

 as they did in 1856, for then they did not begin to lay until the nights began to get 

 cold ; but this time they began to lay nest day after they arrived. — [John A. Wayner. 



Banks, Faribault County. — I had a garden of four acres covered with 'hoi)pers. I 

 hatched about 100 turkeys and chickens ; in two weeks they had cleaned them out. — 

 [Wm. O. Payne, July 21, 1877. 



Excelsior, Hennepin County. — Had 'hoppers in 1856; left 1857, having damaged spring 

 wheat, but not much winter wheat. — [T. Bost. 



Medalia, Watonivan County. — 'Hoppers visited us July 3, 1873. In 1874 hatched and 

 destroyed nearly all crops. Came in 1875, July 9. In 1876 hatched and did great dam- 

 age; also visited us in immense swarms from northwest August 18, which laid eggs. 

 — [C. C. Sylvester, June 16, 1877. 



Grafton, Sibley County.—Jnly 1, 1877, at noon, 'hoppers in great numbers fill the air 

 from 20 rods high to just as high as the eye can see them ; seem to be going southwest, 

 as the wind is northeast. They fly at all times just the way the wind blows. The 

 weather is very warm ; tbe upper current of air is very mild ; 'hoppers moving very 

 slow, while the lower current is a little stiffer, and, consequently, the lower 'hoppers 

 are moving much faster than the higher ones. — [Geo. R. Gardner, July 2, 1877. 



Ettijle Lake, Blue Earth County. — In answer to qaestioa 20 I can say we were visited 

 by the grasehoppers the Fall of 1874. They laid eggs and died with us. The spring of 

 1675 they commenced hatching out about the 20th of May ; on the 25th of May I wrote 

 in my diary "grasshoppers very thick"; again May 31, "'hoppers very thick, some 

 think they will take everything." They did us but very little damage and went away 

 without laying any eggs. It was in May, that summer, that Blue Earth County paid 

 out over |i30,000 within ten days for grasshoppers. No one here believes that our crops 

 were saved by that operation. It distributed that amount of money among the people 

 who actually needed it, and that is about all the good we can see that it did. It is 

 worse than folly for any county or even State alone to attempt by paying a bounty to 

 destroy the 'hoppers, and by that means expect to save their crops. It would bank- 

 rupt the State to nay ten cents a bushel for grasshoppers this year.— [Ira B. Reynolds, 

 June 15, 1877. 



Marshall, Lyon County. — When flying high in the air old locusts always go direct with 

 the wind, but often beat up against the wind, or at some angle of it by short flights 

 near the surface. In 1865, July 13, a large caravan passed across my claim going w^est 

 in the teeth of a strong northwest wind. The advance was two days ahead of the rear 

 guard, and between them there was, at least, a grasshopper to the square inch all the 

 way, and all the time. I do not think they went quite a mile an hour, and they eat 

 all in their vray, and left the country as soon as the wind changed to the southeast. 

 They had been batched in the lower valley of the Redwood^ and eaten it clean, and 

 started west for food and pressed on as fast as the winds would admit, and when they 

 could not fly in the usual way tbey flew as far as they could, and then flew again, feed- 

 ing as they went. The same swarm of locusts will fly in every direction, short flights. 



